Up next
50 Years of Music Mastery
Yet, as The Mummy neared its 20th birthday, moviegoers began to sense that they had lost something important. From social media posts to boutique bumper stickers, fans grew nostalgic for Rick and Evie. They didn’t long to see the now-clunky digital effects, nor did they really care about the titular ancient Egyptian villain (see: the tepid response to the terrible Tom Cruise version). No, they wanted to see Rick and Evie fight and flirt with one another again.
That desire was only stoked by the disastrous decision to recast Evie for Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Reportedly, Weisz did not care for the movie’s script or perhaps director Rob Cohen, who took Stephen Sommers’s place for the third movie. Whatever the reason, they chose Maria Bello to be the new Evie. Bello is a great actress and seemed to be a fine choice to replace Weisz. But on the screen, Rick and Evie felt less like an exciting pair of lovers and more like a tired, bored married couple.
Which brings us to the present. On paper, the idea of a Fraser and Weisz reunion in The Mummy 4 sounds great. Both actors have continued to do great work since their last on-screen pairing, and the goodwill they’ve built up will certainly help overcome any bumps in the new film.
However, The Mummy 4 is still a legacy sequel, one that will have to address the fact that decades have passed since Rick and Evie first met. Their son Alex will himself be in his 40s now, and the duo will likely have been out of commission for a while. Previous legacy sequels lean into time passed, and often even have the central couple separated for one reason or another: think of Indy and Marion in the last two Indiana Jones movies, or the Creed movies with Rocky as a widower after Adrian’s death.
The Mummy 4 cannot pull the same move. No, they cannot ignore the passage of time, and yes, we want to acknowledge that Rick and Evie aren’t the same youngsters they once were. But the movie cannot downplay their chemistry. Only that electricity can revive the Mummy franchise from the dead, just like the endless love that called forth its central monster.
The Mummy 4 is set for release on May 19, 2028.
